Need a laugh? Gladys Hardy on The Ellen DeGeneres Show

I think Ellen was had but it is still funny. Enjoy

Julie is Missing

Got an email from sister Diane this morning, turns out our other sister Julie has been missing for a week. Not the first time, but it is still upsetting.

Toddler's temper ousts family from plane

As a parent, I know that sometimes there is not much you can do to calm down a child. At the end of the article it said that the family said they would never fly on AirTran Airways again, but I am sure the rest of the passengers on the plane were happy they could take off and not have to wait for a 3-year-old to calm down first.

ORLANDO, Fla. - AirTran Airways on Tuesday defended its decision to remove a Massachusetts couple from a flight after their crying 3-year-old daughter refused to take her seat before takeoff.

Wii weight loss

Now here is an excellent excuse to spend time gaming...

Mickey DeLorenzo didn’t start out to lose weight. He just wanted to play with his Nintendo Wii. But all that arm waving caused him to work up a sweat. And the first thing he knew, nine pounds were gone.

I heard this on NPR the other day. Some people are just too stupid for words.

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Police put squeeze on boa suspects

Friday, January 05, 2007

Jesse Tinsley

Plain Dealer Reporter

Cleveland Heights -- Returning to the scene of an exotic snake heist proved to be the dumbest of a string of mistakes by a mom-and-son shoplifting team that police said made off with a boa constrictor from a Lee Road pet store.

To accomplish the feat, a 15-year-old teen dared to wrap the 30-inch baby boa around his neck, hide it with his jacket and slither out of Petland, surveillance video shows. Police said his mother acted as a lookout.

On Dec. 22, a day after the reptile was stolen, the accused snake-nappers returned to the store and asked clerks for books on -- yes -- caring for boa constrictors, according to police reports.

Petland workers said the duo even went to the cage where the boa was nipped and inquired, nonchalantly, "What kind of boa was in this cage?"

Clerks recognized the pair, dressed in the same garb as on the day of the theft, from the video clips and stalled them until police arrived. After chatting up pet-shop staff for information on boa care, the relaxed teen purchased a feeder mouse for the snake, said Bobby Stuczynski, reptile and fish manager at Petland.

Police got there in about 60 seconds and arrested the accused boa bandits. They are Sebrina Hill, 35, of Belmar Road, and her son. Hill faces theft charges and will be appear in Cleveland Heights Municipal Court next month. The teen was booked and placed in the custody of relatives, police said.

Police reviewed the videotape, which they said shows a woman keeping a lookout as a teen took the $300, red-tail boa from its cage.

The fuzzy video also reveals what police said appeared to be the head of the boa sticking out of the youth's jacket collar.

That didn't surprise Stuczynski, who said the generally mild-mannered snake is a curious creature.

Even the laid-back red-tail boa can become aggressive under stress or if it fed improperly or kept in improper temperatures, Stuczynski said.

Police recovered the boa from the suspects' Belmar Road home. When it was returned to Petland, the staff, which had worried that the snake would become ill or die without proper care, erupted into cheers.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

jtinsley@plaind.com, 216-999-4889

Speaking of Journaling: Iowa woman fired for journaling at work

Might be better not to do a lot of it at the office.

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An administrative judge has denied unemployment benefits to a woman who was fired from her job for keeping a journal detailing her efforts to avoid work.

Emmalee Bauer, 25, of Elkhart, was employed by the Sheraton hotel company as a sales coordinator in Des Moines. While on the job, she kept a handwritten journal. A supervisor told her to stop writing on company time, but instead, Bauer wrote her journal, all 300 single-spaced pages, on her work computer.

In the journal, portions of which were introduced during a recent hearing regarding Bauer's request for unemployment, Bauer describes her efforts to avoid work.

"This typing thing seems to be doing the trick," she wrote. "It just looks like I am hard at work on something very important."

Bauer also wrote: "I am only here for the money and, lately, for the printer access. I haven't really accomplished anything in a long while ... and I am still getting paid more than I ever have at a job before, with less to do than I have ever had before. It's actually quite nice when I think of it that way. I can shop online, play games and read message boards and still get paid for it."

In her journal she speculated it could someday be published.

Bauer was fired for misuse of company time after a supervisor discovered the journal late last year.

Administrative Law Judge Susan Ackerman denied Bauer's request for unemployment last week, saying she the journal demonstrated a refusal to work, as well as Bauer's "amusement at getting away with it."

Why I write to a blog

"It is not a bad idea to get in the habit of writing down one's thoughts. It saves one having to bother anyone else with them." Isabel Colegate

Getting there

See, I could have sent this to everyone on my mailing list who is getting older....

I will just pretend that everyone who wants to see this will see it.

Quote from Phyllis Diller

"Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home."

Hanks. Tom Hanks

Sure, now you know about British actor Daniel Craig coming in and reviving the Bond franchise. But it almost didn't happen, because studio honchos wanted to take a safer route to success with a tried and true commodity. The sleuths at Chocolate Cake City and Double D Enterprises uncovered this preview of what might've been.

This and that

John and I are at the office, John is happily eating his buttered popcorn and surfing the web while I am finishing up some work. The popcorn smells really good since I haven't had dinner yet and I have all this holiday plus weight to get off. Had a nice lunch with Russell today. Russell went to get some substitute teacher training and came by on his way back.

John and I are about to go check on my friend's cat. I am not looking forward to changing the litter box but it needs to be done.

I am at the point in our software development cycle where I am not creating new functionality in my products, but am waiting for our quality assurance to find bugs so I am never sure how busy I am going to be on any given day. Today was slow which is good but a little boring.

Need a meeting?

Watch this video to see if you might need to attend this 12 step group :)

Down to four

Rachel went back to Provo on Friday afternoon. It is amazing how much quieter the house is now. John has taken to asking for Rachel again, he best hope is that she gets an internship in Texas this summer. John of course is not the only one who misses Rachel.

Barbara told me that the term in fact is internship, not a clerkship. Live and learn. Apparently clerkship is reserved for working with judges and the like.

It looks like Russell will be joining the ranks of substitute teachers while he waits to start law school. So everyone is busy and back to normal for the time being.

Congress Avenue reopened after dead bird investigation

Not a great way to start a new week. I don't work downtown (thank goodness) but the idea of random dead birds in any part of the town is pretty scary.

They have opened the street so the lucky workers can go back to their offices. I can't help but think of the canaries in the coal mines.

Trip to Houston to see Susan

John and I drove to Houston and back on Saturday to see his former school teacher Susan. John looks forward to his yearly summer visits to visit Susan and her husband Pat (aka 'Coach' to John). Susan was in town to visit her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, so John and I decided to take the Prius out of town for the first time and go for a visit.

We were there for about five minutes before John decided that I should leave so he could have Susan's total attention. Luckily there was a mall a couple of miles away, so I went shopping at the mall while John and Susan bonded. A few hours later we met for lunch and John and I headed back to Austin.

Years ago I was in a gathering with my younger brother Joe where the discussion turned to the premise of "God never gives you more than you can handle," a concept that always makes me feel uncomfortable because I do feel overwhelmed when I take a moment to think about my life. Joe said something to the effect that God does sometimes give a person more than he or she can handle, but he also sends help. That is how I think of Susan, someone who God has sent to help us with John.

And then there were five

James and Emily took Harris and Jack home to Pittsburgh yesterday and this has been hard. It is sadly quiet around the house now.

I am really glad they came to visit this year, the kids have grown and it was a delight to spend time with all of them. I am impressed what great parents James and Emily are to the boys. I am very proud of James.


I was telling someone at work about Harry coming down the stairs yesterday morning as I was about to leave for work and he yelled out "Grandpa" and I was surprised how emotional I got telling (and now typing) the experience. They get under your skin very quickly.

I was also happy to see how matter-of-fact Harris was around John, he would ask John to join him playing with the marbles. John, Harris and Jack spent some time together watching videos which was really nice.

Today Rachel heads back to Provo to start on her fourth semester of law school. Time flies when you are having fun. On Wednesday she drove over to Houston to interview with a firm about a clerkship (I always want to say internship) for next summer. I hope she gets it, Houston is a much easier trip to make than one to Australia.

I asked her if she wanted someone to drive over with her and she reminded me that she had driven cars on the left side of the road in Australia and New Zealand, so she was confident she could handle a drive to Houston on her own.

Rabbit vs Snake

For the truly bored...

John's Doctor's visit

Barbara and I took John to see his doctor for a checkup this morning. John was pretty cooperative with the ear and balance tests. He was less so with all the questions from the medical assistant and the doctor.

The good news: John did much better on the tests than he did last fall. The doctor seems very optimistic which of course is great. The treatment will be more of the same plus trying some new medication to minimize some of his autistic mannerisms and sounds.

Stay tuned....

Lunch out with the kids

Went to a BBQ place called Rudy's that is very casual, we ate on the patio on picnic tables. You eat on big sheets of waxed paper so cleanup is a breeze. Good food and the grandkids seemed to like it! Jack really got into the spirit of things, he loved the potato salad and sausage.

I like taking John there because it is fast and he can eat what he likes, which is generally just the chicken.

Good Advice from Dear Abby

DEAR READERS: Rise and shine, my friends, and welcome a brand-new year! This is our chance for a new beginning. It is the day we discard destructive old habits for healthy new ones. With that in mind, I am printing Dear Abby's often-requested list of New Year's resolutions -- adapted by my mother from the original credo of Al-Anon.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will live through this day only. I will not brood about yesterday or obsess about tomorrow. I will not set far-reaching goals or try to overcome all of my problems at once.

I know that I can do something for 24 hours that would overwhelm me if I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will be happy. I will not dwell on thoughts that depress me. If my mind fills with clouds, I will chase them away and fill it with sunshine.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will accept what is. I will face reality. I will correct those things I can correct, and accept those I cannot.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will improve my mind. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration. I will not be a mental loafer.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will make a conscious effort to be agreeable. I will be kind and courteous to those who cross my path, and I'll not speak ill of others. I will improve my appearance, speak softly, and not interrupt when someone else is talking.

Just for today, I will refrain from improving anybody but myself.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will do something positive to improve my health. If I'm a smoker, I'll quit. If I am overweight, I will eat healthfully -- if only just for today. And not only that, I will get off the couch and take a brisk walk, even if it's only around the block.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will gather the courage to do what is right and take responsibility for my own actions.